Are three Good runningbacks better than one fulltime back?

CARDIAC_CATS · Post by **CARDIAC_CATS** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 1:47 pm

JD will be our starting featured back this year. Not only because of his running ability but for his blocking and ability to catch the ball coming out of the backfield. If he is the starter this year I am projecting the following type stats for him this year:

Yards: 1000-1250
Rush TD's: 15
Rec TD's: 2
Yards Receiving: 250-350
Receptions: 30

Now of course all this depends on how many carries the other Rb's get, but my guess is JD will be in the 1100-1200 yard mark this year as we will pound the ball this year with our OL.

Of course, Lulay may 'steal' some of those TD's from him on some of his 30 yard TD runs

bobcatbaby · Post by **bobcatbaby** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 2:40 pm

BobcatLionFan wrote:Looking at the pictures posted, most of Groves' runs were against 2 or 3 string players and most were depleted by injuries to the 1st team and the better 2nd team guys (such as Lou) were playing with the first group. Same with Jason. Groves and Jason also had the benifit of Bolton and Jensen playing a lot on the 2nd team OL.

JDs was against 1st string D guys all the time.

Just saying until Groves and Jason play against the first team guys, it's hard to know for sure.

i dont believe u were at the last scrimmage the sonny hollad classic Groves and Gathings both faced the first string defense because dominik hurt his arm or something Bolten and Jenson were in almost every play in the scrimmage all three backs had the same oppertunity one thing everyone needs to remember gathing was hurt all year last year with his knee and groves had shoulder surjery he missed all winter and part of spring ball but appears to be just fine from his proformances. so i cant wait to see what he really gots when he gets back in shape and learns the offense

CARDIAC_CATS · Post by **CARDIAC_CATS** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 2:44 pm

bobcatbaby wrote:
BobcatLionFan wrote:Looking at the pictures posted, most of Groves' runs were against 2 or 3 string players and most were depleted by injuries to the 1st team and the better 2nd team guys (such as Lou) were playing with the first group. Same with Jason. Groves and Jason also had the benifit of Bolton and Jensen playing a lot on the 2nd team OL.

JDs was against 1st string D guys all the time.

Just saying until Groves and Jason play against the first team guys, it's hard to know for sure.
i dont believe u were at the last scrimmage the sonny hollad classic Groves and Gathings both faced the first string defense because dominik hurt his arm or something Bolten and Jenson were in almost every play in the scrimmage all three backs had the same oppertunity one thing everyone needs to remember gathing was hurt all year last year with his knee and groves had shoulder surjery he missed all winter and part of spring ball but appears to be just fine from his proformances. so i cant wait to see what he really gots when he gets back in shape and learns the offense

From my post above though, I'm not saying that Groves or Gathing don't deserve to be the feature back. I think we should have some good depth and even some good change of pace backs with Groves/Gathing as well. Double back set with JD and Groves would be good as well. I just think JD will get the majority of the carries this year due to his playing almost all of last year and knows the system etc. This increased competition should help all 3 become better players too. It's going to be fun to watch them run and our OL block for them this year. I hope they MAUL people.

theblackgecko · Post by **theblackgecko** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 3:00 pm

2002 Griz had a very fine running game with a "3 headed monster" of Harrison, Waller, and Gober, in my opinion, better than the running game under Humphrey in 2001.
The upside of having 3 quality backs is in substitution and the fact that 3 backs are more resiliant to injuries than one. I don't remember a single game where the Griz had all three healthy in 2002, yet I remember the running game carrying that team while Edwards struggled on offense.

BobcatLionFan · Post by **BobcatLionFan** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 3:22 pm

No I wasn't at the last scrimage, but I was at the one before, and can only say we are lucky (and the recruiters are good) - we have 3 very good looking backs. We are not in the position as last year where Milton was always out and Beal was the only replacement.

Jason has come back big time and I'm knocking on wood constantly. Should be a good running year with the OL and 3 studs.

bobcatbaby · Post by **bobcatbaby** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 6:43 pm

BobcatLionFan wrote:No I wasn't at the last scrimage, but I was at the one before, and can only say we are lucky (and the recruiters are good) - we have 3 very good looking backs. We are not in the position as last year where Milton was always out and Beal was the only replacement.

Jason has come back big time and I'm knocking on wood constantly. Should be a good running year with the OL and 3 studs.

i agree, the competition will be very intresting because we will see which back will rise higher than the other two in the fall. which back will work harder than the other two in the summer. I not very positive on Dominick because of his last year proformance was horrible 680 yards second worst in our conference. dont even get me started about all the fumbles

CelticCat · Post by **CelticCat** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 11:44 pm

JD didn't even play full time last year until about the 3-4th game, don't be so down on the kid.

My take on JD - he was fairly dominant in JC, so he wasn't in as good as shape as he could have been, because he was great at that level. Coming here, he got in shape after his first year, adjusted more to this level. I expect good things from him this year, don't count him out.

BobcatLionFan · Post by **BobcatLionFan** » Fri Apr 29, 2005 9:17 am

CelticCat wrote:JD didn't even play full time last year until about the 3-4th game, don't be so down on the kid.

My take on JD - he was fairly dominant in JC, so he wasn't in as good as shape as he could have been, because he was great at that level. Coming here, he got in shape after his first year, adjusted more to this level. I expect good things from him this year, don't count him out.

I agree. A lot of team wish they had JD and I'm sure Lulay does with his blocking. We can't lose focus that Lulay is very important to protect. JD also catches the ball very well (we don't know about Groves and Jason in this area).

The Nation was worried 3 months ago (before signing day) about getting a 2nd back as a transfer - was one of the major concerns. Obviously the coaches knew about Groves and Jason is a very pleasant surprise in coming back as strong as he is (still knocking on wood).

I think running back is one of the least of the worries (just behind the OL and Lulay). The question mark on Offense is TE and a Eddie replacement (as well as keeping Gatewood out of trouble).

The Defense is the biggest question